Many in way of diverted Mississippi River floodwaters ignore evacuation order

KROTZ SPRINGS -- A fleet of dump trucks delivered dirt around the clock to raise the back levee in this refinery town, racing to beat rising floodwaters from the Mississippi River as more gates were opened Sunday on the Morganza Floodway.

While some residents packed furniture into utility trailers bound for higher ground, many said they wouldn't comply with a mandatory evacuation order that took effect Sunday evening.

"I don't see water, so I'm going to stay, " said Kim Krantz, who nevertheless packed up everything in her two-story house on the vulnerable south side of town. "When I see water, I'll get out. It's that simple."

St. Landry Parish President Don Menard issued a mandatory evacuation order that called for residents in low-lying areas to leave by 5 p.m. Sunday.

The order came as the Army Corps of Engineers opened eight more bays on the 125-bay Morganza Floodway on Saturday night and Sunday, increasing the flow to about 90,000 cubic feet per second.

A single bay had been opened Saturday afternoon, marking the first time since 1973 that the structure had been used to divert water from the rain-swollen Mississippi to the Atchafalaya River Basin. Corps officials said additional bays will be opened in the coming days to gradually increase the flow rate to 125,000 cubic feet per second, taking pressure of levees protecting Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

The St. Landry Parish evacuation order includes about 400 of Krotz Springs' 1,200 residents who live outside the ring levee. But many residents said a temporary levee being built by the Louisiana National Guard and state transportation department gives them the confidence to stay.

Working 24 hours a day, crews are laying a recycled asphalt base topped with dirt-filled Hesco baskets to build a 2-mile levee that rises between 6 feet and 12 feet off the ground.

It is designed to protect about 260 homes and the Alon refinery from back flooding from the spillway.

Maj. Jason Mahfouz of the Louisiana National Guard's 139th Regional Support Group, based at Jackson Barracks, said the levee is expected to be complete by Tuesday.

Lifelong Krotz Spring resident Edward Stelly, 71, said he's staying put because it could be a week before the town sees high water, if at all.

"The water's got to go all the way to Morgan City and then start backing up, " said Stelly, holding his 14-year-old toy poodle, Fefe. "I just feel like I'm not going to get water. I've got faith in the levee they're building."

A similar makeshift levee helped minimize flooding when the spillway was opened in 1973. But that levee has long since been eroded or hauled away as fill dirt.

"The residents showed us where the levee used to be and said, 'Around here, dirt's money. We took that out a long time ago, ' " Mahfouz said.

No one from the parish president's office could be reached to discuss enforcement of the evacuation order as the deadline passed.

About 25 miles downriver in Butte La Rose, there was no evacuation order, but most residents had already left or were preparing Sunday to leave soon.

"We've really got to get out of here, " Mike Boudreaux said, grabbing his two dogs as water from the Butte La Rose Canal started to encroach on his yard.

The Atchafalaya River's projected 29-foot crest in Butte La Rose is marked 7 feet off the ground at the fire station, one of the highest points in town.

"That right there is enough reason for people to know to get out, " said Leslie Thibodeaux, an assistant to St. Martin Parish President Guy Cormier.

Bud Hardin said his business moved a dozen mobile homes in Butte La Rose to higher ground in the past three days, the normal workload for a month.

"If my men can keep walking, they can keep working, " he said. "I had a couple get sick with heat stroke."

Joshua Roberts spent two days draping the exterior walls of his house with plastic sheeting anchored by sandbags.

"I hope this works, " he said. "All you can do is batten down the hatches and hope for the best."

Roberts said it's unfair that his home is being put in harm's way to minimize the flood risk in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

"I don't like it at all. This is my home. This is where I was born, " he said. "But what's a few people sacrificed to the greater cause?"

Standing on the banks of the Atchafalaya, where the water was about 6 feet below the top of the levee, Mike Gauthier vowed to stay, even though he expects flooding to be worse than in 1973.

"It will take more than this to throw me out of here, " he said. "If things get bad, I've got a houseboat in my back yard."

If the town isn't washed off the map, Gauthier said he's looking forward to the fishing.

"After the 1973 flood, you could throw a line anywhere with any bait and catch a fish. I don't think Aunt Jemima could sell enough corn meal for all the fish we caught, " he said. "Not only that, I ate so much crawfish that I almost started walking backwards."

In the Morgan City area, crews were working to sink a barge at Bayou Chene to help block water from Stephensville and Amelia.

Duval Arthur, the emergency preparedness director in coastal St. Mary Parish, said he's growing increasingly optimistic that catastrophic flooding will be avoided.

"The man upstairs must be watching out for us because a steady north wind is blowing the water away from us, " he said. "Our water level actually dropped a couple of inches today."

Paul Rioux can be reached at prioux@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3785.